Gathering provides an opportunity to “teach and model the concept of accompaniment,” said Heidi Hag- strom, director for the event. Setting the Gathering in New Orleans, just as it was in 2009, pre- sented a “perfect opportunity” Hag- strom said. “There still was need, and we had young people who understand addressing needs as a spiritual prac- tice,” she added.
But if youth groups focus all their
energies solely on the Gathering as a destination, Hagstrom said they’re missing the bigger picture. She advo- cates an understanding of the event as a “unique tool that congregations can use as part of their fulfillment of the baptismal promise to rear young people in the faith.” To that end, the service aspect of the Gathering is critical to helping young people begin to build relation- ships with the communities they serve in New Orleans, and then draw- ing connections to the communities to which they return.
The Gathering is “not only a forum for faith-enriching action and contemplation, but it connects young people to the mission of [their] com- munity of believers,” Hagstrom said. What can happen when groups launch into a mission trip without building relationships? Kevin L. Jacobson, an ELCA missionary in Suriname, said the resulting trip can actually be detrimental to future relationships.
First, Jacobson said, consider the financial expenditure and understand that your hosts also know how much this trip is costing: “They’re thinking, from the perspective of Suriname, ‘Why don’t they just send us the money?’ So make sure your trip has great value. … Great value is opening yourself up for the relationship so that blessings will come in the future.” Jacobson tells of a non-ELCA group that visited the Lutheran
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church in Suriname and promised leaders they would send money to fix its ailing pipe organ. After significant delay, the group eventually said they could send about one-tenth of the necessary funds. The broken com- mitment, Jacobson said, was both frustrating and “disheartening” to Suriname church members. A successful mission experience, he suggested, starts with considering “how you channel your love and your passion and your enthusiasm so it becomes meaningful for the recipient of your mission trip.”
Jacobson warned of the challenges groups encounter when they arrive with high energy and want to begin work immediately—by the end of the trip they have run out of energy. Tak- ing time in the beginning to listen and share experiences rather than launch- ing into work may help them channel their energy throughout the trip. Most important, he advised, is that groups come prepared to share their faith story. “Tell us who you are and tell us about the life of your church.
… Share with us your joys,” he said. “Because from that story and from that history, treasures will unfold.” Jackson said the foundation for such a treasure-filled experience can be helped by the vocabulary that’s used. The words “mission trip” and “service project” can be limiting, he added, defining it as a one-time event instead of a fluid and reflective pro- cess. Instead, use language such as “experience” or “encounter.” He said, “Then it includes the preparation, the celebration, the story. ... That broad- ens it to say it’s not just the thing we go and do.”
The partnership with Green River has grown far beyond a one-time mis- sion trip for Kohlmeyer and the Colo- rado congregations. The relationship firmly established, the congregations are already planning their next visit. And next time, Sykes has even bigger plans for them, as she joked during their last trip: “So, next year you’re coming back to do the roof, right?”
Angie Bilyeu (left) and Chelsea Jaeger work alongside a child in Guatemala on their Lutheran Campus Ministry mission experience.
REBECCA BOARDMAN
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